The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a digital copier.
In the case different kinds of documents or data, which cannot be dealt with by the same inputting and outputting system or the same processing method are to be done as one job in a conventional image forming apparatus having a reading means (scanner) and an image forming means (printer) such as a digital copier, processing and copying are conducted according to each document, then the user finishes the job by inserting pages, and the like.
Further, in the case a special processing is required for a document with a special processing, all the documents are finished with the special processing unless the processing affects copy finishing of the other documents.
Recently, a method for instructing a copier or an image processing device automatically by means of an instruction sheet is proposed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication Nos. 5-112064, 5-289456, and 6-202415.
As mentioned above, a copying processing of documents including a document to be applied with a special image processing involves a problem in that extra time and labor are required since special documents and general documents are copied separately, and the user inserts the pages manually.
Moreover, in the case all processing is conducted by a special mode, it involves a problem in that the processing time becomes longer so that the copying rate declines, and further, the production cost will rise if expendable goods are used in the processing.
Furthermore, in the instruction method with an instruction sheet conventionally proposed, since a high technology is used for recognizing the instruction content on the sheet such as the OCR (optical character recognition), it involves a problem in that the recognition processing is complicated to take longer processing time and it requires the user's labor in making the instruction sheet.